


We're what killed the dinosaurs, We're the asteroid long overdue

by Evekle



Series: Of Robots and Kaijus [1]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Affinity Level Up, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bunk bed talk, First Meetings, Gear up, Kaiju (Pacific Rim), M/M, Machines, Memory Related, More banter, Pacific Rim AU, Slow Burn, Stephen has medical knowledge but now he's a pilot, Strangers to Banter Buddies, Strangers to Lovers, The Drift (Pacific Rim), Things go BOOM, Tony is a mechanic and now he's a pilot, Tours!!!, accidental innuendos, meeting the other pilots!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-09 21:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14723694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evekle/pseuds/Evekle
Summary: Controlling giant robots has never been something on Tony’s bucketlist of things he needed to do before he died. How wrong he was. Sure the entire Drift concept was a bit intrusive to say the least, no really, sharing your brain with someone isn’t the best idea.Too bad his partner was an asshole.





	1. Prologue

The Kaiju first attacked on August 10th, 2013 in San Francisco. It takes the military six days in order to take down the monster. Tony was working on a machine that day, trying to get it to serve automatic coffee. The news blared everywhere, the world gearing up together, calling for all the world’s greatest doctors and mechanics in the year of 2014. It’s after the 4th monster attack. He decides to join much to his surprise, it’s mostly for the money. What can Tony say? The job pays well. 

 

It’s called the Jaeger Program for some reason. Tony finds out the goal was to find a way to kill these Kaiju-yeah, that’s what these monsters are called, don’t ask. There, he meets other brilliant minds with all of them trying to create a robot to be able the counter these toxic Godzillas. It takes an entire year after the first trial pilots die in order to perfect the system. He meets a guy called Stephen Strange during this period. They don’t talk much, despite sharing a lunch break. 

  
In 2016, they’ve perfected the system. The only problem? No one wants to pilot the system, so some of the original makers are volunteered-just to show that these machines work. Then in 2019, there’s thirty Jaegers in commission, and he’s manning one of them. How? It’s quite simple, they needed another one in commission. He just volunteered, after all, what was the worst thing that could happen? How wrong he was, note to his future self, _don’t make assumptions._


	2. Icebreaker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony meets Stephen. It goes as well as you think. Cue awkward icebreaker commencing as well as meeting some of the other pilots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK so this is the first chapter! I have the entire fic outlined except the last arc but there's 2 major arcs outlined together. There's the mission arc and the media arc. The Mission Arc starts now!

See, he has absolutely nothing against Doctor Stephen Strange. Nothing. You could simply say that they  _ might  _ have gotten off of the wrong leg in more places than one. Being deemed ‘Drift compatible’ had been out of left field for the two of them. Seriously, Tony hadn’t expected a  _ doctor  _ of all people to be able to anticipate and counter. And now here he was, getting ready to share a dormitory with the guy now. It was going to be a disaster, he can feel it. 

 

Going through the maze of a compound, Tony takes a look around. One door opens revealing two pilots, confidence in every step that they take. 

“Ready to kick some ass, buddy?” one of them says, slapping the other pilot in the back. 

“Hell yeah.” the other replies, the two fist bump- he notes how they’re completely in sync with one another. They walk right past him, laughing as they go. He looks back, so this is what his new life has become. 

 

More people walk past him all talking to someone as he tries to find the room 101. It’s not too hard, the entire layout of the compound is one like a high school but it really shouldn’t have taken this long. At this point, he has no idea how many turns he’s gone through trying to find this dorm room. A few more pairs walk past him, he guesses that it’s for getting ready for their fights with whatever Kaiju. Tony takes note of them, it’s a girl with red hair with a boy with blond hair. They stride past him with excited chattering. More turns. 

 

Then, there’s the door to room 101. Standing there like a pillar of light. He takes a breath, now all he has to do is-- The thought is cut off seeing how the second he gets the keys out to open the door, there’s a voice from inside the room. So much for trying to be the early bird. Strange has already gotten here earlier. 

“The door’s unlocked.” 

Tony enters the room with the door sliding shut behind him after he comes in. Taking a quick survey of the room, it’s quite bland.. Gray walls, a single desk, and a bunk bed. Strange is at the table, writing  _ something.  _ As for what, he really doesn’t care, as long as they leave each other alone, it’ll be fine. 

 

“Great, you’re here.” Strange tells him without even looking up from the whatever he’s writing. “Stark right?”

“Yeah, and you’re Strange.”

“You bothered remembering my name.” there’s a pause as Strange turns around from the table and getting up. The man stands right beside the bunk beds. “Top bunk or bottom bunk?” 

“I’m more of the switching type.” the question caught him completely off guard. Like really, why was this so much so an important question? He hasn’t even put his bag down yet! 

“Then you can sleep on the floor if you want to  _ switch  _ once in a while,” the man replies. 

“Top bunk then.” Tony replies without any hesitation, after all doesn’t  _ everyone _ wants the top bunk, might as well take it before it’s taken. Strange looks at him with amusement. Whatever. He starts to take his things out from his bag, trying to be as efficient as possible. There’s a few pieces of clothing, simple and comfortable. A few photos of home and some building tools, he’s not getting bored if there’s no ‘missions’. 

 

Tony’s about to put the few outfits he has into the drawer, only to realize the that it’s full. Of course, the early bird gets the worm. So he goes to the next one below it. It’s completely empty. It’s only a few minutes and he’s done with the organization of what he has. He does regret not bringing a book though, at least he’ll be able to ignore his room mate with it. Strange is lying down on the bottom bunk, reading a book, talk about that timing. 

  
  


There doesn’t seem to be anything else that needs immediate doing so he climbs onto the top bunk, it creaks under his weight. At least it doesn’t break. He starts fiddling with a rubix cube from his bag, it’s something to do at the very least. Turning and twisting, he gets completely absorbed into solving the puzzle, Tony is close to getting the four corners the same colour before Strange’s voice breaks the silence. 

“So, coffee or tea?” Strange asks, it’s followed by the sound of a page flipping. Tony doesn’t need to think about the answer, it’s always been coffee, tea just tastes weird. Though he does think that these questions are similar to the ‘do you like pineapple on your pizza’ questions. And now he can’t concentrate on solving the cube anymore. 

“Coffee, you?” 

“Tea.” 

There’s another pause. These Icebreakers have always been awkward in high school but this was a whole new level. They didn’t have the same taste in drinks, yet that wasn’t the worst that could happen. Without thinking much, Tony asks the one question that he uses in  _ every  _ Icebreaker. 

“Hey Doc, what’s your favourite ice cream flavour?” he calls to the bottom bunk. “Hazelnuts for me, I was going to swear off dairy but the flavour was too good to be abandoned.” 

“It’s a bit chalky.” 

Another pause, clearly this Icebreaker wasn’t going the way that he had intended. If they were ‘Drift Compatible’, they  _ had  _ to have something in common. Every conversation that was trying to be created seemed to die every time the other person responded, not that it wasn’t expected. Might as well keep it going before it gets too weird (not that it was already).

“Favourite book, that is if you read at all.” 

“Brave New World.” is the short response before there’s another page flip. Tony’s read the book before, a bit dry in places if he would say himself. Though, it’s not the most boring book he’s read. All the details are a bit blurry to him, there’s  _ definitely  _ something about Shakespeare though. 

“Too bad it’s not this world.” 

“That’d be cheery. We’d all be brain dead.” 

“It wouldn’t affect you much.” 

“Too bad we’re equals in this scenario.”

He goes back to working on the rubix cube, they can talk more during dinner with the other pilots. So far they’ve made no progress in knowing each other better. Tony just doesn’t understand  _ how  _ they Jaeger Program expects them to work together. They’ll find something in common, Tony tells himself as he goes back to fiddling with the cube. 

 

* * *

 

Dinner rolls around with the sound of a blaring bell. He scrabbles to get down from the top bunk, beating Strange to the door. They leave, Tony tries to stay at the same pace as Strange who has longer strides, he jogs to keep up. It’s a few turns before they reach the cafeteria, every pilot filing in with shouts and cheers. It feels like it’s one big family. 

“That was awesome!” he hears a pilot say to another, the two are wearing different uniform colours. It’s for the different Jaeger pilots, he’s heard about it. 

“Haha yeah! Remember that punch? Awesome job!” their ‘partner’ replies. The two are laughing as they go to the get their dinner. “Ready for the interviews next week?” 

 

Tony tries to find an empty table, realizing that Strange has run off to somewhere. Right when he’s about to go find the guy, he’s intercepted by an inuit kid alongside his partner. The two are ridiculously friendly and Tony doesn’t get it. They don’t even know him, not that he’s complaining about it.

 

“You’re one of the new pilots right? I’m Zeke, I’ve just started last month actually. Been piloting Chrome Brutus.” Zeke tells him as he calls his partner over. “You?” 

“Tony Stark.” he replies, at least he can get some information from these guys if it’s not too hard and hopefully get adopted into this family of theirs. 

“You used to be a mechanic who built some of the Jaegers right?” his partner asks, before introducing himself. “I’m Zeke’s partner. Ilisapie Clint.” 

Damn these two are friendly. He can’t really think of anything to say in response before the two are running off with their trays. He sees them run off to another pair of pilots.  This was going to be a very awkward meal to say the least. He avoids everyone else during the meal time, trying to seem at least somewhat less awkward around these people who are laughing with each other. Instead, he tries to get some information by listening in, giving some input once in while. 

“Ready for that interview next week?” Clint asks, to the sibling pair. They’re called Wanda and Pietro from what he can hear. 

“Of course! It’s time to show how amazing we are! Right sis?” Pietro replies with a voice filled with pride. 

 

Tony finds about the different Jaegers and the pilots. There’s Steve and Bucky, two best friends who are in one of them. The two seem nice enough, although hard headed could also be applied as well. Then there’s Wanda and Pietro, the siblings. He doesn’t know too much about them but he knows that they are willing to kill for the other. There’s a few others, Tony doesn’t really bother. Only the siblings and the other duo really have something interesting to him, even though he can’t see it. The rest of the meal is quiet, he sees Strange staying in a corner, thinking to himself. 

 

They’re going back to their quarters in peace, the hallways completely empty. From what he can tell, the other pilots have been called up for duty. It’s around eight at night. Tony hears one of them complaining about how it completely sucks, only to be countered about some of the pilots getting the missions at around  _ two _ in the morning. At the same time, there’s something about storms and some pilots complaining about the weather. Turns out that the Kaiju have a love for dark times, such as thunderstorms. Weather is now his enemy, not that is wasn’t originally. 

 

He goes back to the dormitory, clambering to the top bunk. There was probably going to be a tour tomorrow, who’s going to be showing them around, he has no idea nor does he care. A few minutes later, Strange enters the room and flops onto the bottom bunk. The bed creaks. He resist the urge to make a sarcastic comment about this entire ordeal, seeing how the bed looks as though it’s a about to break if something were to slam onto it too hard. If he could have the chance, he notes to himself that he’s going to renovate this thing, keep it organized and  _ stable _ . 

 

Around ten minutes later, the lights are closed. The entire place engulfed by darkness. So there was a curfew. Tony hears Strange muttering a string of swears about how he was  _ trying  _ to finish whatever chapter, and ‘how it just got to the good part!’ Serves the guy right for trying to read here of all places, the lighting was bad for it anyways. There’s the sound of sheets shifting as he tries to get comfortable in the small bed. It might be the summer time but staying underground definitely isn’t going to make this place any warmer. He swears there’s fungi growing somewhere in this facility-it’s damp enough for it in certain places. 

 

He’s looking up at the ceiling, thinking about the Tour that may or may not happen tomorrow. Not only will it be the first time where he can figure out which of the Jaegers is he going to helm but also where everything is kept. It’ll be good fun, assuming that Strange wasn’t going to be a jerk tomorrow. He doesn’t bet on it. 

“Night Doc, see you in the morning,” he mutters as he turns around, getting comfortable in the creaking bed. It’s met with silence, though he does swear that he hears a response from the doctor. Tony concludes that he still doesn’t really like the doctor. 


	3. Tours and Banter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tour Day as well as some more bonding between these two. And the first mission begins in the next chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the floor is set, everything is established! We gear up and face that Kaiju (hopefully in the next chapter), so yeah, action scenes.

He wakes up to a constant banging on the door the next morning. Clearly their guide is telling them to get up for the brand new day, after all they only had so long before losing any semblance of patience. 

“Hurry up, we don’t have all day!” 

There’s a string of curses as Strange gets up to open the door, glaring at the poor kid who was waiting outside. 

“Give us five minutes.” he says before shutting the door again. Strange looks at him in complete deadpan, hair sticking out in different angles. Tony notes that it doesn't look half bad, objectively speaking. 

 

* * *

 

 

It takes Tony around three minutes to get ready, beating Strange to the door, it feels great. He reopens the door, only to Zeke there, glancing from side to side for a few moments before noticing him. The boy’s expression changes from boredom to excitement. 

“Mr.Stark! Oh, was that your partner? Cheery guy,” Zeke rambles before shutting up, as Strange comes out from the room. “Hey Strange! Ready for the tour?” 

The poor kid doesn’t get a reply, instead it’s another glare, it takes a few moments 

“Nevermind, let’s get started then.”

 

Strange finally looks somewhat happier after this statement, smiling a little. Tony can’t control himself from making a comment on what he’s witnessed, it’s a miracle. 

“So you can smile, Grumpy!” he says with a grin. Strange looks at him with an annoyed expression. 

“Smile you say? Why  _ I  _ haven’t seen you  _ grin  _ when we first met.” 

“ ‘cause you’re a douchebag.”  

“And you’re not? We’re pretty equal here.” 

“ _ Equal,  _ so you’re saying that--” Before he can even retort, Zeke interrupts, laughing to himself slightly. 

“We don’t have all day guys, the general is gonna kill me if we don’t finish in fifteen minutes.” the kid starts walking away, pointing at things as he goes along. Tony follows him with Strange following close behind him. Looks like someone’s afraid of getting lost. 

 

“And the area we’re in now is the dorm area. There’s eight pilots here. Each pair usually shares a room, like you two. But let’s say that your partner is the opposite gender--” 

“You get different rooms.” Strange interjects. 

“That is correct, Mr.Strange.” Zeke points at the doctor. 

“It’s doctor.” 

“Not anymore. You’re a pilot now, Stephen!” the boy says with glee, shrugging slightly. “Anyways, you’ve been in the cafeteria. So let’s go take a look around, maybe we can go into storage area. You two might find out which Jaeger you two pilot! Sorry, rambling.” 

 

There’s so many corridors, the maze allegory from yesterday still applying, but in this case, it has stairs. There’s no elevators anywhere in sight. Talk about not having enough technology to spare even though this place was clearly  _ brimming  _ with the best technicians yet couldn’t bother to build any elevators. 

 

First floor. 

 

Second floor. 

 

The stairs keep going on and on. Zeke tells them that ‘they’re nearly there!’ after each flight of stairs. It’s fifteen minutes of climbing stairs. When they finally reach the top, it’s where the launching bay is for the pilots, he’s out of breath. Strange seems to be of a similar state, both of them not used  _ this  _ type of exercise.  

 

“This is where all the Jaegers are kept! Now, this is technically one of seven Shatterdomes, this one is known as ‘The Icebox’! Not that it’s freezing or anything, we’re just up North.” the kid tells them before guiding them to the loading bay. There’s a door there, with the sign ‘ _ Lucky 7’  _ painted on it. Tony can’t help but take note of it, the words are written in a yellow border with green text in the middle. Quite aesthetically pleasing. He hears Strange give a hum of approval of sorts. Zeke runs ahead, leading to more stairs, going down. 

 

“Keep going down, that’s where the actually Jaegers are kept and seeing how you two  _ just  _ went through the Jaeger Academy, I’ll just give you the basics.  _ Assuming  _ you get your first mission tomorrow,  _ don’t chase the RABIT _ . Anyways, this big guy is Gypsy Danger.” he points at a a closed door. There’s nothing to see. “The pilots aren’t right now, but yeah. Really big guy. We have some small bots working on fixing a few of these fellas.” 

“Uh huh.” Tony gives a quick nod, the word  _ RABIT  _ playing over and over in his mind. It takes a few moments before as Zeke points at another Jaeger, chattering about some information about it before he remembers, Random Access Brain Impulse Triggers. Or as he likes to call them, memories. Yeah those things, it makes Tony die on the inside, it’s just really cheesy. 

“Rumours are that you two are going to control Lucky Seven.” Zeke tells them as their going back to the stairs. “Says you’ll find out tomorrow. First mission probably. Oh and this guy is Chrome Brutus, my bud.” Zeke points to one of the closed doors, there’s a few sparks flying to the outside, it’s small but still visible, the Jaeger is probably going through construction. 

“It’s being fixed at the moment but it’s amazing! Really big and there’s only two pilots, amazing!” 

“Only took a few deaths to make it work this way though.” Strange comments. Right, this guy worked on the medical aspect of the Jaegers before. 

“That was before I came though, though I heard about it. We’re getting side tracked.” 

 

* * *

 

It takes them around fifteen minutes to get back to the dorms. Zeke leaves them once they manage to get back to the main building, meaning that he was walking with Strange in complete silence. This meant another try at another icebreaker, after all, they’ll be looking into each other’s memories tomorrow anyways. 

“Favourite food? C’mon Strange, we gotta share  _ something _ ,” he says before the door opens, revealing the dorm room. All they need to do was wait for the next day. 

“Ravioli. Is that helpful enough Stark?” 

“ _ Ravioli _ . Well aren’t you ravi-lonely.”

“It’s not bad.” 

He let’s a pause occur before he replies, bringing a throwback to what Strange told him yesterday. “It’s a bit chalky, but it’s good.”

“See we do have something in common. Now german or italian.” 

Great, it was the pineapple on pizza question, there was only one right answer. Tony stops for a moment, looking at Strange in the eye before giving a response. 

“Italian. German is a  _ bit  _ too exquisite for my taste.” 

“And Italian isn’t? Though yes, it’s better. You do have good taste Stark.”

“Well thanks Doc.” 

Finding that they did have something in common was better than nothing, it gave Tony a bit of faith that maybe they could become friends even if their only thing in common was ravioli of all things. 

“So what do you think of this ‘Shatterdome’?” Strange asks him before taking out the same book from yesterday. It reads  _ Brave New World.  _

“Not bad. Kinda rusty around the edges but it’s nice.” 

“Only nice? This place was supposed to be the place with some of the best technology and it has--” 

He interjects, stopping Strange from rambling something about this place, the place which has no elevators. Anything to avoid thinking of what they might see tomorrow. 

“No elevators.” 

“That’s a problem.” 

Scenario after scenario play in his mind, questions firing everywhere with none of them getting answered.  _ When are we going to get called up for the mission? Why now of all times? How long are we going to have?  _ Each of these questions play over and over in his mind, it’s making  him antsy. So he goes back to fiddling with the rubix cube the moment he gets up to his bunk, waiting for the that dinner bell to ring even though he doubts that eating anything is going to calm him down. It might make it worse. 

\------

Dinner goes just as it did the day before, not much talking but Tony considers their ravioli exchange to be a success. On the other hand, he hasn’t really expected the cafeteria food to be this  _ chewy _ . Sure he hasn’t felt it yesterday, but now the chewiness is more obvious than anything. It’s not bad food. It just has a weird texture that’s all. This texture doesn’t really help with him with the anxiety creeping up. Everything just tastes like dust. Yet he keeps trying to down the food, it’s for the energy. Carbs are important. The meal is eaten in silence.

 

It’s after all the food is off his plate does he bother trying to look for Strange, the guy is back in his corner again. Ignoring everyone, not that he’s surprised or anything. So he does the stupid thing, Tony goes over and plops right beside Strange. 

“Ready for the mission tomorrow?” 

“You?” 

“No.” 

“We’re on the same page then.”

“At least we won’t die alone.” 

“Cheery. Real optimist aren’t you Strange?” 

“I’d like to consider myself a realist but alright.”  

So Strange was just as nervous as he is, it’s a calming fact despite being the most logical explanation. Thinking straight isn’t the best that he’s good at anyways. Perhaps they could be in this together, waiting for that dreadful ring. It’s not like it’s going to change anything, it’s coming. The rest of the ‘meal’ passes in silence, the other pilots bustling around, enjoying each other’s company after the day. 

“Are Steve and Bucky still in those interviews?” 

“Think so.” 

“Ugh. We have their shifts, just let me sleep.” 

“Night shifts?” 

“Yup.” 

 

It’s an odd conversation to listen in on, everyone seems to hate the media here. There’s some more about the media but Tony’s curiosity for what the media does is just confusion, he’s just a  _ bit  _ behind on the times. Getting up, he goes up to the one person he somewhat knows, Zeke. The boy is too busy making fangs with those carrots before he interupts. 

“I didn’t think you mentioned interviews in the tour, so what are they?” 

“Interviews, exactly what you think they are. Think press interviews from movies.” 

“Oh.” He shouldn’t be surprised, after all, what else would it mean. Tony blames Strange for not giving him time to think. He goes back his spot beside Strange, muttering to himself about how stupid the idea of tours are. Clearly being a pilot means that they’re more busy than anyone else, training for fourteen hours with around thirty minutes to relax, how to they even have the  _ time  _ for these interviews. It just boggles his mind. 

 

* * *

 

Dinner ends with some more complaints from the others, all mentioning how awesome it was going to be when they first experience the Drift. There’s something about being distorted after coming out but he’s sure the two pilots are trying to scare the living daylights out of them,  he really doesn’t need this right now. Zeke tries to help by telling them that ‘it’s not that bad!’ though he doubts it. The last thing he needs is to see into Strange’s memories and have Strange see his. No thank you. Dinner ends with his stomach churning uncomfortably. 

 

That night they don’t bother talking to each other. Strange keeps on reading his book until the lights turn off and he starts working on a blueprint for what he wants to build in the future, assuming they can get out of tomorrow alive and well. Sleep doesn’t come very easy, the butterflies in his stomach flying around everywhere. On top of all that, every damn time Strane moves, even a bit, the bed creaks. He wants to tell Strange to knock it off, until he realizes that he himself isn’t any better. So Tony tries to stay in one place for the rest of the night. It takes hours before he can finally knocks himself out in the bed, it’s after Strange stops moving. 

 

* * *

 

It’s three in the morning when their radio starts blaring. Calling them to get up for the Kaiju. 

“Get to the launching bay, Lucky Seven.” 

The two of them bolt for the door, trying not to get to  _ that  _ place without getting lost. 


	4. Gear Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre battle, we're going Kaiju fighting, but first we gotta get ready. Tony and Stephen get an affinity up! Also memory flashbacks. More bonding between these characters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK so this is a slightly shorter chapter, seeing how the next chapter will probably be longer (it has a storyboarded fight scene). As for future updates, the next chapter will be up next week but the week after that is going to be late, exams are coming for me so yeah. I'm rambling, Thank you all for the comments, kudos and etc, they keep me motivated!! 
> 
> Kudos and comments are always a win!

It’s still a winding passage way to get to the loading bay, everything still feels confusing, each hallway feeling the exact same as the last. Surprisingly enough, Strange leads the way, going between the corridors like he’s done all his life, not making a single wrong turn from the looks of it. Tony tries not to think about how much this bugs him, they’re only come through this place once after all.

 

The winding passage way continue, it feels more and more like a hero walk that they’re doing, other than walking in sync. Stupid Strange and his height advantage. This was going to be ridiculous, moving in sync was definitely going to be a bit of trouble. Yet the idea that they were going to share memories is another thing, going into Strange’s memories? How about no, and as for Strange seeing his memories? That’s an even larger no, his childhood is his alone, no one else needs to know about it. Pretty sure that Strange has the exact same thoughts as him.

 

Once they manage to find the door to the loading bay, people coming from some other sectors to aid them since _clearly_ they couldn’t put on this simple on by themselves, it’s not too hard given how there’s two pilots for every Jaeger. It’s just a bit of surprise, that’s all. It’s the last thing he expects in a place like this.

 

Tony finds himself getting ready by the others a few minutes later, the suits are strangely pearly white, completely new. He starts to feel like he’s a doll at this point, his hands are cold, and this freezing energy is only creeping upwards. The butterflies from yesterday continue to fly around, he’s getting more nervous by the moment. Looking over at Strange, the man’s face is white, Tony takes a guess that they look similar. The front portion of the suit being locked onto him, it feels like a prison once he hears the click. Then the spine connector is added, it’s supposed to link the two pilots together. There’s a flash of _something,_ before Tony can even get a clear picture, it’s over. If this is what it felt like for pilots to be connected to the Drift then it must be quite a ride.

 

Everything following the spine connector is a blur, the helmet is added as they are taken over to the actual loading bay. It’s the first time when he gets a good look over what he _might_ have helped build. The entire place is filled with the electrical hum of the machine, two pairs of connectors as well as a treadmill for walking purposes (he knows that’s not what they're called but why bother at this point.) The second Tony sets his feet into the straps, a thought dawns on him. This could very well be signing an early death contract, not that it’d be a bad way to go out. He’s pretty sure the nerves are making him act so crazy.  

 

Somewhere above, there’s a voice, telling them once again about _not chasing the RABIT_. It’s been over the third time since he’s heard it and it’s starting to become annoying.

“Hi there! I’m Friday and I’ll be helping you every time you have a mission.” the voice tells them, they look at each other, after all _what type of name was Friday?_

“That’s great.” Strange deadpans.

“Nice name.”

“ _Anyways_ , try not to damage Lucky Seven too much, these things cost a lot of resources.”

“So the pilots can just die then?” Strange asks, looking quite annoyed.

“Strange has a point.”

“It’s complicated.” Friday tells them, Tony swears he can see the person behind the radio shrugging a bit.

“Stark just call me Stephen if you really need to. Calling me Strange is a bit weird to say the least.”

“Not like you’re any better, _Strange_.”

They continue bickering for a bit, trying to get into some sort of agreement on this name thing. It doesn’t end very well seeing as both of them wanted some sort of special ‘name.’ Tony proposes the idea of using ‘awesome facial hair bros’ only to be shot down right away. Talk about harsh. It’s right before they _should_ have reached an agreement when Friday interrupts them, Strange saying that their better off as just being called ‘Lucky Duo’, which is by far the lamest name he’s ever heard.  

“Ready for the drop Lucky Seven?”

“Yeah, we’re ready.” they say at the same time, only to end up glaring at each other at the end.

There’s a sudden drop, the ground seems to let go for a moment, he looks over at Strange whose face has turned into a shade of green. Gravity takes control, with the only thing they can do is look ahead.  There’s a smack as the gears of the head of the Jaeger are clicking with the ones with the body. Whirs and clicks, it’s starting to feel like they’re in an action movie at this point, not that it’s unexpected.

“You guys are ready, now try to stay in this area. We’re going to fly you over.”

“Brilliant. What could _possibly_ go wrong?”

“Everything, Stark. We’re going to die.”

“Peachy, let’s go Friday.”

 

There’s an uneasy pause between them, seeing how after their food conversation, there hasn’t been anything else that they share in common. So obviously the first idea is to see whether or not they could get this thing to _move_. It might be the exact opposite thing Friday had just told them before a few seconds.

“Hey Doc, let’s see if we can move this thing.”

“Ugh, fine.”

 

They try moving, unsuccessfully, they can’t even move in sync. Trying to even walk at the same time is a chore, Tony’s going to fast, Strange isn’t going to changing how he’s walking. Seeing how they can’t even walk in sync, there’s no way throwing a punch was going to work. There’s a flash of corn fields in sight before disappearing.

“How about this, we call it out. Left. Right. Left.”

“Mhm.”

This time it actually works, they are able to take one step forward on the freezing earth. Tony swears that the entire ground trembles, at least they can move, of course that’s when Friday yells that they shouldn’t have moved. None of them are surprised, Strange even looks annoyed at the interruption.

 

A few moments of silence settle as their Jaeger is lifted up into the air. It’s become a flying transformer, Tony had wanted to comment, stopping himself before the statement was made. The last thing they need is more sarcastic commentary about how they were going to die. He tries to look around the area, all he can conclude is sometime between them entering the Jaeger that it started to snow. Beautiful. The outside temperature has a drastic drop, yet he doesn’t feel any of the creeping veins of the outside air. Thank god they built these things with heaters and air conditioners.  

 

Friday tells them that the flight is around ten minutes before they reach the destination, that’s equal to around more silence and Tony isn’t having it. These ten minutes could be used to get to know each other better, get some more shared memories so when the Kaiju _do_ come, they’ll be ready. The thing is, everything is easier said than done.

 

“So, Strange any opinions on this job?” he asks, quirking an eyebrow.

“It’s not bad.” Strange replies through the radio that’s linking the two of them together

“We might die. I mean it’s not a bad way to go out if I do say myself.”

“You’re not wrong Stark. Any new toys that you’re building?”

Alright, he didn’t expect that to be what Strange would ask in a situation like this. Couldn’t it have any better timing, not that he’s complaining. There are a few ideas that he wants to bust out, if they even get the time to even start working on it.

“They’re not _toys_ , but yeah, I have some ideas.”

“Interesting. Mind sharing some of them?”

Tony can’t stop himself, there’s ideas and blueprints that he wants to make, a few of them are quite simple, a dinner serving robot of sorts, maybe something for the medical district too, there’s ideas upon ideas but never enough time.

“Robots maybe. You know like the ones who you can talk to, to avoid loneliness.”

“So a lab partner of sorts, is that what you’re trying to say?”

Well, Strange isn’t wrong per say, the idea isn’t for himself. It’s a therapy bot after all, it’ll make the supposed therapy easier seeing how most people won’t talk to another person- some over their dead bodies.

“Not really no. It’s more of a therapy bot.”

“Nice, tell me if you need help with anything. Once you start that is.”

“Why not.”

 

It’s nice that they can finally talk about _something_ as their slow death creeps towards them, scratch that, it’s slam towards them. They don’t really have anything to talk about really, other than some small talk about the weather which Tony is sure that Strange would not enjoy given how nervous the two are. The last few minutes tick by faster than what he can grasp, it’s time to hit the ground.

 

“So anyone want to give a pep talk?” Tony jokes, keeping his voice from shaking.

“Don’t chase the RABIT.” Strange deadpans, looking completely unamused.

“Great pep talk Stephen. I’m _really_ inspired.”

“Just try not to die, Tony.” Normally, it would be a surprise with the use of first names but not when the Jaeger is set on the ice cold environment. The snow continues, becoming more violent by the minute, the sound of the wind whistles around. There’s a sudden roar from the distance, it feels as if the entire earth shakes as the creature begins to ‘walk’ closer. If Tony could describe it in a sensible way, it’d be a giant toxic Godzilla.

 

Despite the obscured view, he can see the Kaiju is a surprisingly clear amount of detail, blame the ridiculously dark hide that the thing has. The sun is rising in the distance, coating everything in a bright light. A beam of light shining directly into their Jaeger’s cockpit, this was going to be terrible. The Kaiju gives out another cry, almost telling them to be brace for battle. The two of them lock eyes, Tony tries to give Strange a weak thumbs up, he gets a nod in reply.

 

There’s another flash of a boy on a horse in his mind. This time, it’s rich in colour, laughter bouncing around him. The drift is terrible, he concludes after a few moments, Strange’s voice snaps him out of it.

“Stark, get ready. Arm up!”

Without even thinking, he listens, looking ahead at the monster ahead of them. The huge thing dives in just as they are able to get into a ready position, ready to fight. Memories flash by once more, this time it’s the training room where he and Strange first met, it’s at least _something_. The creature lets out another roar as it turns around, going for a swipe.

 

And so it begins.


	5. Battle and Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaiju fight and getting into the piloting family! Everything is great, there's also robot building, at least the planning aspect of it.

They don’t manage to counter the first hit, the Kaiju slaps hard on the helm of their Jaeger. Sparks appear from all over as the entire machine rocks back and forth. Yet despite the Jaeger getting damaged slightly, it feels like a slap to the face for him. 

 

All it causes is another memory flash, it’s not the training room anymore. It’s his father, staring right at him, another flash, it’s another man. The other man begins to say  _ something,  _ yet it’s muted. They’re underwater, the voice simply bounces off. As soon as Tony starts to hear what the words are about, there’s another change of scenery, light flooding his vision. It’s back to reality, the entire scenery filled with white again.  

 

The Kaiju is barrelling at them again, he’s trying to move with restraints but Strange seems to have stopped responding, they have to make a move  _ now _ . 

“Strange! We have to move, now. It’s just a memory!” he yells over the speakers.  _ C’mon Strange, not now _ .  Right after, he gets a response. 

“So I’ve heard.” 

The creature lets out a roar, a flash, another image of a memory. Stupid Drift. Tony feels the impact, there’s more sparks coming out. Water starts to gush in as well, wisps of the coming straight into the Jaeger. They need to fight back if they want to stand a chance. Memory flash. 

 

Back to reality. 

 

It takes a few moments, the two of them are fumbling to get up. One leg then the other. Tony’s first thought is the throw a punch after that stupid Godzilla that just got two free hits on them. 

“Stephen, let’s go. On my count.” 

The Kaiju is getting up after them, once again, it’s going for another lunge at them. Talk about lack of strategy, it starts waddling back slightly, probably hoping to land a final hit, yeah not happening.   
“One.” 

It’s closer, from the looks of it, it’s only preparing for a launch, this thing really has no original ideas now does it. Like it’s done this  _ barrelling  _ move for the third time. Tony can’t help but think of a saying--

“Two.” 

The two of them pull back on the right restraint. This is going to send that toxic Godzilla spiraling, well hopefully. It’s barrelling to them, not yet. Not yet. 

“Three!” he shouts, the two of them throw the punch going straight for the head of the Kaiju, sure enough, the monster goes flying back. The sound of  a large crack marks that they’ve landed the hit. Corn fields, a boy on a horse. Back to reality. 

 

He sees Strange, no Stephen give him a wink, breaking the tension of the battle slightly. Tony can’t help but give a smirk, maybe they could work together after all. 

 

Next thing they know, they’re in the water. There’s the sound of someone screaming, muffled ‘help! Help!’ can be heard. Back to reality. Water, is everywhere. Another hit. When did the Kaiju even have a tail? Stephen is calling for another hit, it  _ has  _ to land. It’s a blur, another smack as the fist collides with the head of the Kaiju again. Blue comes from the mark in which they’ve hit. They were going to make it, assuming the next hit is hard enough. 

 

A roar of pain from the creature. White. A small river. Back to reality. Training room. Snapback. Bracing for one last hit. Back in the water. Training Room. His lab. Back to reality. 

 

Smash. The entire Kaiju goes down into the water. A huge wave of water coming right after it hits the water. Water hits them straight in the helm, a little bit of water splashing inside. It was alright. They were still alive. Tony lets out a whoop of joy, trying to pump his arms in the air. Looking over to Stephen, he sees that the other man takes a deep breath. 

 

“Hey Strange! We’re still alive!” he shouts over their small speaker. He gets a string of curses as a response, maybe it was a  _ bit  _ too loud. 

“You don’t say. Must’ve been from my pep talk that helped us win.” 

“Doubt it. It was terrible.” 

“But you were _inspired_ , keyword here.” 

Okay, there’s nothing he can say to that, even if it was said with sarcasm. A few seconds of silence pass by. 

“How do you think we’re getting back to ‘the Icebox’?” 

“Do I look like I know? Terrible name by the way.” 

“Yeah, they should rename it as ‘Santa’s Workshop’.” 

Strange laughs at the new name for the Shatterdome-which should have been the one that they use for real, really. Soon enough he’s laughing along, the question of how they’re getting back at the back of his mind. There was also the memories he saw in the Drift, he’ll figure it out. 

 

“You’re alive! Nicely done,” Friday tells them, making a few comments about the damage along as well. Tony doesn’t quite get it, it  _ was  _ their first mission so it was fine. Everything was fine. 

“Yeah, we’re alive. Now how the hell are we getting back?” 

“We’re going to fly you back. Give us a few minutes.” 

 

Soon they were back in the air, Tony falls asleep sometime as they are going back. It’s definitely not a comfortable place to sleep, try sleeping in a semi standing position. It’s not fun. By the time he wakes up, they’re loaming over the facility, Strange seems to be humming something to himself, at least it’s not loud. 

 

Right before they’re out of the Jaeger, Friday tells them about it being a day off seeing how piloting Jaegers drain their pilots. At least there was that, this meant more time to worry about other things or also known as getting more rest, priorities are important after all. This is what one gets when they’re woken up at two in the morning.

 

It takes them around ten minutes to get back to the dormitory, it’s six in the morning. Meaning around four hours was used up for that mission, it doesn’t make sense, either the fight took a thousand years or flying back took forever. Tony doesn’t bother thinking about it too much, he’ll just ask the other pilots later. He climbs onto the top bunk, a flopping down to the bed without a care, there’s a string of curses from Stephen about the bed going to break. Whatever, he’ll deal with it later. 

 

* * *

 

 

The next time he wakes up, it’s one in the afternoon. Stephen isn’t in the room, he guesses it’s for going for lunch or something. The next few moments pass by in silence, boredom setting in slowly yet surely. It was time to swing around to those blueprints. Climbing out of the bed, Tony walks over to the small desk, taking a sheet of grid paper and pencil with him. 

 

First things first, the idea in it of itself. Well, it was already thought out, a therapy bot of sorts. AI is going to be a major player and it should have a name, maybe Sam-- Nevermind, that can come in later, for now he’ll stick with making the physical design itself, he’ll program it once this war against the Kaijus are over, it’ll be fine. 

 

The first draft is a round ball of sorts, provides easy mobility yet it doesn’t look right. Maybe if it had legs, it’ll look better? Legs are drawn on, it looks ridiculous. Scratch that, maybe if it looked like a human. He thinks about it, the parts that he’ll need is going to cost quite a bit. There was also the bipedal problem. Nevermind, not humanoids then. Tony wants to laugh at the idea of a human AI to talk to someone, how creepy. 

“That would be really weird. What if it was dog shaped?” he mutters to himself before drawing a poodle like AI sketch. Still feels weird but it’s still better than the original human design. Fur would be hard to have work and a talking dog of all things was even more ridiculous. 

“A parrot maybe?” 

Another sketch, it doesn’t look half bad. Quite steampunk if he could say so himself. This one could work, parrots could talk so it’s fine. 

 

Before he knows it, hours tick by. It’s three in the afternoon, he’s spent two hours just drawing the bot’s appearance. Strange chooses that time to barge on in, holding a plate of food. 

“You’re awake, thought you went off to Wonderland or something.” the man says, before giving him the plate of food. 

“Maybe I’m still there.” 

“Not surprised if that’s the case, just eat your food.” 

 

Ten minutes later, Tony’s back to work, trying to figure out a good appearance for the bot. 

“Do you think you’d talk to a parrot robot?” he asks, hoping for an opinion. 

“No. Why would I even talk to a parrot in the  _ first  _ place?” 

“You’ve become a pirate. Thanks Strange,  _ really helpful _ .” 

“No problem. At your service.” 

 

He goes back to work, only to be interrupted by the dinner bell, calling every pilot down. Talk about terrible timing. He was just finalizing it to a final design, then he’ll do the calculations. 

“Hey, hey, hey! How was it?” Zeke runs up to them as soon as they appear in the cafeteria. “Seeing how you came out alive, I’d say that it wasn’t that bad.” 

“It was  _ great,  _ only fell down three times.” 

“From lack of coordination or--” 

“You got slapped enough times to fall.” Ilisapie comments, laughing to himself before going to get a meal. 

“We  _ were _ slapped to death which-” Tony begins, trying to make it seem less like a joke. 

“Isn’t a bad way to go out, it’s what he wants to say.” Stupid Drift link. Of course the doctor finishes his sentence, should’ve seen it coming. 

“Technically, it was one slap.”

“Still counts.” 

“Must’ve been fun, anyways, you two have passed the ‘Rite of Passage’. C’mon we don’t bite!” 

Tony just looks at Strange, completely confused.  _ What the hell happened just now?  _ Soon enough, he meets everyone in this family. Everyone’s from different places with inside jokes all around. All of them share memories, even if they aren’t Drift compatible. 

“Did we mention the one time when we went for a sleepover in one dorm?” Wanda asks them with enthusiasm. Tony just shakes his head, and the story begins. These people seem so avid about every memory, taking them as if they were their last, it’s kinda beautiful. Strange is there, simply just listening. Steve and Bucky even enter through a video call, making jokes along with the others, it’s a full house in the cafeteria. 

 

Ilisapie and Zeke tell them about the shortcut to the kitchen, there’s something about late night snacks. He makes a guess that they were childhood friends as the two of them begin babbling about  _ their  _ first mission. Turns out that being barrelled by a Kaiju multiple times was the most common occurrence. The more information they get, the more Tony feels like this place isn’t so bad, except for the name, that’s still terrible. 

“Have you guys ever considered renaming this place?” he asks, Stephen rolls his eyes before sighing.  _ Of course it’d be that, of course _ . 

“Nope, the name is pretty accurate so no,”  replies Ilisapie, quirking an eyebrow at the idea. 

“It’s  _ The Icebox _ , not the most original name of the century.” 

“What about that?” 

“He’s trying to say that it’s a boring name,” Stephen says, looking quite unamused by the conversation. “Stark says that it  _ should  _ be called ‘Santa’s Workshop’.” 

This creates a chorus of laughter amongst the group of pilots. Some of them have tears in their eyes. 

“We’ve tried renaming it to something like that before!” Pietro tells them between fits of laughter. “It was going to be ‘The Jaeger Skating Rink’.” This one statement sets everyone off again. Steve and Bucky share what’s been going on in their end, the two of them signing off to get to some sleep since they’re somewhere in Europe for some interviews. 

 

The entire dinner ends with new information learned from the other pilots with the feeling of family. The others allow them into their small group. It was their new family. 

 

* * *

 

  
Going back to their dorms, Tony feels happy for the first time. This new life didn’t feel as bad, even Strange was warming up a bit. The memories still bug him slightly with him asking one burning question over and over again- _who was screaming for help_ \- not that it matters, probably a simple memory from the news, nothing special. That night, the bottom bunk has constant movement, creaks being heard every few seconds. Then it just stops, covers rustling before complete silence. It’s a peaceful night in their creaky little bunk bed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are appreciated! 
> 
> ALSO, there's probably not going to be an update next week. I have exams, then I'm going camping. So in the week after next week, there might be an update. Anyways, after those two weeks, it's back to normal.


	6. Intermission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Intermission. A small break before the next fight, it also gives a one year time skip. We're now in year 2018 in the fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the slow update!! The first few weeks of July have been crazy. Anyways, hoping that things will go back to normal since it's the summer break. Anyways, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!

Days afterwards they have absolutely nothing to do, no more missions seeing as it is some sort of down time for everyone. Yet the two of them end up with fourteen hour training sessions everyday. For the most part, it’s usually with another pair of pilots. Thing is, Tony  _ hates  _ waking up in six in the morning, the lack of coffee doesn’t help either. Though he can say that the lack of tea makes him feel slightly better. Strange and he are completely equal from their lack of morning drinks. 

 

Breakfast is only half an hour long, so is lunch. Dinner ends up only being an hour. This means very little time to gather information from the others about some things in this facility. Tony spends the majority of the time talking with the others, all of his conversations with Strange are at night. 

 

For the first few weeks, he’s training with Steve and Bucky. They’re nice people if he could say so himself. Both are stubborn as hell with a ridiculous strong bond. 

“So childhood friends?” he asks before throwing another punch at the punching bag. 

“Yeah. We go all the way back, now don’t we Buck?” Steve tells him before countering one of Barne’s stabs. 

“Saved your ass when we were ten, Steve!” 

“I could have taken them!” 

“Truly the best pilots of  _ The Icebox _ .” he mutters. 

Another punch at the bag, it flies a bit back before swinging back at him. Tony throws another countering punch, listening to the conversation instead of providing input. It’s interesting to see how strong the neural handshake is between them. He and Strange lack the amount of memories despite being compatible. Their neural handshake wasn’t  _ quite  _ as strong but whatever. They’ll learn and figure it out eventually. 

Strange doesn’t really talk with anyone during these sessions, but seems to be a faster learner even if the guy can barely throw a hard punch. The two of them progress in the same relative speed. Each day of training is kept track of. Bit by bit Tony’s skill increases. 

 

Their other sessions are usually with Zeke and his cousin. It’s through those sessions where Tony actually manages to learn more about the entire facility. He calls it, obtaining useless information. 

“The bacon’s pretty nice here. Wish they’d serve some seal though.” 

“Really now, Zeke?” his cousin retorts before slapping the bag even farther. Tony rolls his eyes, they’ve been going at this for  _ hours  _ now. 

“I’m just saying--actually, nevermind.”

Everyday becomes a training day. Fourteen hours. 

 

* * *

 

It’s a year in when they are told that the Jaeger has been updated to a newer model in order to have stronger defense and whatnot. 

 

* * *

 

 

“Mr. Stark and Mr. Strange, please report to Bay 7.” The announcement comes right after Tony tells Strange about a few updates. He sees Strange roll his eyes and he can’t help but agree. It’s not even for another fight and he finds this check in to be useless. 

 

Getting down to the bay, they’re loaded into the Jaeger. Tony can’t help but feel as though it’s the an even longer procedure. Everythings is equipped as they step into Lucky Seven’s head again. There’s nothing really new from the looks of it. Well, nothing really obvious.  Once the two of them are hoisted onto the restraints, Tony starts to feel annoyance. They’ve gone through this before, and from the looks of it, it’s the same. 

“Hey there Mr. Stark.” Friday, of course it’s Friday. 

“Yeah, hi Friday.” He’s really not in the mood, all he wants to know is what’s going on. 

“Mind telling us what’s going on?” Strange taking the words from right out his mouth. Guess the training is really helping them. There’s a pause before Friday answers. 

“A new check in. The Jaegers have been updated and whatnot. We’re trying to make sure they work.” Friday tells them, Tony rolls his eyes. Of course it’d be that. “It’s just going to be a simple neural handshake test.” 

The two of them nod in unison. 

“Let’s get on with it then.” Strange simply says before preparing for memory dive. He turns to Stephen, giving him a nod, how bad can it be? The only major difference between this and the first time is the increase in memories that they share between them. Though Tony has to admit, Strange is still a jerk in a sense, they barely talk in the training sessions. The most they get to know each other better is a few night talks-even those are about practical information. 

“Initiating neural handshake.” 

 

It’s a warping effect as he sees the memories fly past his eyes. There are occasional flashes of his own. They all flash by, appearing less than a second before it’s gone. The two of them don’t really talk about their history much, after all, it’s not that traumatic anyways. Long story short, he doesn’t really care about Strange’s history. Maybe one day, one day. 

 

A few seconds later and it’s over. No more memories. The thing that bugs Tony is how  _ nothing  _ went wrong during that entire process. From the rate they’re going at, something bad was bound to happen to them. The two of them walk back to their dorm, talking to each other on the way.

“I don’t get it Stephen. Why did they  _ just  _ update them?” Tony complains as they walk. 

“Do I look like I know?” Strange rolls his eyes, though Tony does believe that the doctor has the same thoughts as him. 

“Yeah, in fact I do,” he counters. They worked on these thing together, it should be pretty obvious the next time they go out. 

 

* * *

 

 

 Dinner goes as usual. No one acts sane but it’s the same conversations, the weather and whatnot. 

 

* * *

 

 

He’s really hoping for a mission on the next day. After all, the others have things to do, that includes actually fighting the Kaiju. Tony is honestly waiting for Friday to call them up soon. He’ll just call it applying the knowledge they’ve learned.  

**Author's Note:**

> And that's the prologue!! This is going to be wild ride, with chapters being longer than usual. Aiming for 2-3K words per chapter. Most of it will be in Tony's pov with a switch happening at certain points where Stephen can provide more insight especially at a *cough* *cough* spoiler.


End file.
